Blood Is Thicker Than Water
by pucktofaerie
Summary: A case hits close to home when Pollock's niece is the victim...
1. Unexpected Visitor

A/N: Yay for finally having a MISSING section! I've been wanting to write this story for a long time now, but didn't because I had nowhere to put it. But now I do! So enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anybody except for my OCs, and those should be fairly easy to spot. Everyone else belongs to…whoever it is who actually owns Missing. Can't say that I know. So don't sue—I'm broke, it ain't worth it. Just enjoy the story!

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Assistant Director John Pollock stood next to his desk, phone in one hand and the other tucked into his pocket. "No, uh…yes ma'am. Yes, I understand. I will get that paperwork over to you by tomorrow morning. Uh huh, I'll take care of it. Bye." With a sigh he hung up the phone and began to fiddle with some of the numerous papers that covered his desk.

"So this is what the big bad FBI man does with his time, huh?" Pollock looked up to see a familiar face smirking at him from his doorway. A confused smile crossed his face.

"Hey you," Pollock said, as the petite teenager moseyed into the room. He gave his niece an once-over, taking in her rag-tag look and gestured to the recently added green and purple streaks in her dark short hair. "What's with…this?"

"What?" Rebeka shrugged her thin shoulders and flashed her uncle a grin. "They wash out. It's for troupe."

The older man nodded knowingly. "Oh." His niece's theater troupe was infamous for their pseudo-punk look and their reputation of putting a new spin on classic plays. "I take it this means you got the part?"

Now the teenager's grin transformed into a full 100-watt beaming smile. "Yeah. I got the part." The newest production planned for the Warehouse Theater was a rendition of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, and Beka had been up to play the part of Puck. "You're gonna come right? I can get you opening night tickets."

Pollock laughed and nodded. "I'll be there. So what brings you by here?" he asked, propping himself on the corner of his desk. Beka stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, acting in a manner that somehow reminded him of Agent Mastriani when she wanted to avoid a question.

"I had to stop by Personnel, so I thought I'd pop up and say hey," she answered nonchalantly. "How're things going?"

"Well, it's pretty slow right now. Course that could change at any given moment." Pollock gave his niece a confused sort of smile. "Did you say you were down in Personnel?"

Beka ducked her head nervously. "Yeah," she answered slowly. Pollock sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Bek, I thought we talked about that." The teenager rolled her eyes.

"No, _you_ talked about it. I never agreed to anything." Pollock shook his head and stood, circling back around his desk and sitting in his chair. "Uncle John, I'm seventeen. You can't expect me to just walk away from an opportunity like this."

"Ah. So I take it that you put in your application for the internship," Pollock said softly, his voice taking on the hard edge that it usually did when he wasn't happy with one of his agents. Beka simply crossed her arms against her chest and raised her eyebrows.

"I did." At his expression she rolled her eyes and sighed. "It's an internship, Uncle John. It's not like I'm signing up for Quantico." There was a brief pause, and she opted for another line of reasoning. "How am I supposed to decide what I'm going to do for the rest of my life if I don't explore my options?"

"I thought you were going to go to George Washington and do theater," Pollock protested. Beka just shrugged.

"And I probably will. But Uncle John," she sat in one of the chairs across from him, "if I don't at least do this internship, then I'm always gonna wonder if I would have preferred the FBI."

Pollock sighed heavily. "I know. It's just…this isn't the life I want for you."

Beka smiled softly. "I get it." Pushing her hands off of her knees she stood. "I gotta get to practice." Pollock stood as well and started around his desk as she headed for the door.

"Hey Bek." She turned to face him. "What're…what are you doing later?"

"I'm watching the twerps after rehearsal. Aunt Janice has her book club thing." Pollock nodded; a few times a month his wife met with a neighborhood book club, and Beka usually ended up babysitting her cousins.

"You, uh, want to grab some dinner later? I should be out of here by the time you get done with the kids."

Beka grinned and nodded. "Sure. If memory serves me correctly, you've been owing me dinner for awhile now anyway."

"Yeah, well, at least dinner with you gives me a little bit more time before I have to go back to my cold, soulless hotel room."

After a moment she bit her lip and gave her uncle an odd glance. "You and Aunt Janice still…eh?" Pollock hung his head and nodded.

"Yeah."

The girl gave him a sympathetic smile. Before she could speak again, however, he took a deep breath and looked at her. "Be sure to give the kids a hug and a kiss for me?"

"You bet." Pollock nodded.

"Good." There was a slightly awkward pause. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

The two exited Pollock's office and walked out into the bullpen area. Pollock immediately spotted Agents Cortez, Scott, and Mastriani laughing around Cortez's desk. The two women straightened when they saw their boss and Antonio swiveled in his chair to see what they were looking at.

Jess and Nicole exchanged a small glance when they caught sight of the young woman with their boss. The girl said something that caused Pollock to laugh, and it seemed odd to them to see him at ease while at work. On their way to the elevators Pollock stopped by the desk, teenager in tow.

"Agents, I'd like you to meet my niece Rebeka. Beka, these are Agents Cortez, Scott, and Mastriani. My wonder team, if you will," Pollock said, introducing them. Beka smiled and shook hands with Nicole and Jess and waved to Antonio. The group murmured various greetings; Beka caught a 'Hi' from Antonio and a 'How are you?' from Jess. She'd heard her uncle mention them before, so it was nice to have names to put with faces.

"So, Beka, what brings you out here?" Nicole asked, crossing her arms against her chest and leaning back onto the desk.

"Well, I had to drop off my application for an internship here at the FBI and I thought I'd pop up and see my uncle," she answered. A quick glance to Pollock's face told the team that he was not particularly pleased. Beka could sense the subtle change in his mood as well, and decided to bow out gracefully.

"It was great to meet you guys, but I've got to run to practice. Uncle John, do you want to meet me at the house, or…"

"I'll call you," Pollock cut in, nodding. Beka smiled.

"Great!" Beka stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug. "Love ya, Uncle John."

"Love you too," he answered, just before releasing her. Beka waved to the group off agents and headed for the elevators. "Drive safe!" Pollock called after her. She smirked at him just before climbing on board the elevator and disappearing from view. There was a brief moment of silence among the group.

"Well she seems nice," Nicole commented. Pollock grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, she's, uh…she's a good kid," he answered, rubbing the back of his head, before turning and walking back into his office.

* * *

With no current case to work on, paperwork ruled the day. After working, or rather semi-working, through the morning, Jess stood and stretched from her desk and prepared to grab some lunch with Nicole. As she was walking down the hallway, however, a strange sight caused her to stop in her tracks.

_Rebeka stood in her path, in the middle of the hallway. The teenager stood rigid, staring at Jess desperately, breathing hard. "Rebeka?" Jess asked. She was surprised to see Pollock's niece back in the building so soon._

"_You have to make them understand," Beka said in a strained voice. Jess looked at her confused._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_You have to make them understand what's really happening!" she repeated, sounding even more desperate this time._

"Jess?" Nicole came up behind the younger agent, causing her to jump in surprise. Nicole regarded her partner oddly for a moment, recognizing the state Jess was in, but confused as to the cause. They weren't on a case, so why would Jess be having visions? "What is it?"

Jess looked Nicole, just as confused. "Pollock's niece," she answered.

"Rebeka?"

"Yeah." Without elaborating, Jess looked into her boss's office, seeing him on his cell phone. With a glance to Nicole, she headed for his door, reaching it just as he was hanging up. Jess gave a quick knock on the open door, giving Pollock just enough time to look up and acknowledge her presence before entering.

"Mastriani?"

Jess paused slightly as she tried to figure a way to word her awkward question. "Sir, do you know where your niece is right now?"

Whatever Pollock had expected to come out of his agent's mouth, he clearly hadn't thought that it would be anything like that. In fact, it was one of the few times that Jess had ever seen her boss flustered, even momentarily. "Why, uh…why do you ask that question, Mastriani?"

Jess cast a nervous look to Nicole, who had entered the office quietly, curious to see what was going on. "Sir, I had a vision. Of Rebeka. I…I think that she might be in trouble."

Pollock was quiet for a moment, looking down at his desk and absently tracing a pattern on its surface. Taking a deep breath, he looked back up at his agents. "Well, I just got off the phone with Beka." He looked down again, trying to process whatever it was that was going through his mind.

Jess and Nicole looked at him expectantly. "Sir?" the psychic asked. He looked up again.

"She, uh…she called to cancel dinner with me. Which is strange; usually I'm the one cancelling on her," Pollock said with a strained smile.

The two female agents exchanged a nervous glance. Jess's visions always meant something, and Pollock's niece was acting strangely. It was enough to send their instincts into overdrive.

"Well, how did she sound?" Nicole asked, crossing her arms across her chest. Again, their boss took a deep breath before answering.

"She sounded…stressed. She, um…" Pollock paused briefly. "She sounded like I would expect her to sound if she didn't think she was ever going to speak to me again." A hardened, more professional look came into Pollock's eyes as he shoved down whatever emotion he was feeling at that moment. But before he could continue with what he was going to say, his cell phone rang again. Glancing at the caller id, he opened it quickly.

"Janice, hi," he answered. He was quiet for several moments as he listened to his wife. "Yeah, I saw her earlier today." Jess and Nicole exchanged a look as they watched their boss carefully. "Really? No, it's just…well, she cancelled on me too. Yeah…we were gonna grab something to eat after she got done with the kids. Well…have you talked to Susan?...Yeah, yeah, I know they're going out of town. Look, what exactly did Beka tell you?...Yeah, she said the same thing to me…Alright, well, listen, Janice, if you hear from her again, call me right away, alright?...No…well, I don't know if anything's wrong of not. Just call my cell if you hear from Bek, okay? Alright, well…I'll talk to you later. Yeah…you too. Bye." Pollock flipped his cell phone closed and turned to face his agents. Practically all emotion was erased from his face as he let the professional side of him take over. With both hands on his desk, he leaned over slightly.

"Okay, so apparently Beka called Janice and told her that she couldn't baby-sit tonight. She didn't explain, just said that something had come up. So, Mastriani, what _exactly_ did you see?"

Jess took a deep breath. "Well…it was Beka. She was standing in the hallway. And she said 'You have to make them understand. You have to make them understand what's really happening.'"

Pollock looked at her, his hands on his hips. "Is that it?"

Jess exchanged a glance with her partner, clearly not wanting to say what else had been so strong about the vision. The younger agent opened her mouth a couple of times before the sound actually succeeded in coming out. "Well, she…" Jess trailed off and took a deep breath before trying again. "I got the sense that she was scared."

Pollock held the psychic's gaze for a long moment, trying to discern if there was anything that she was keeping from him. After a long moment, he sighed. "Alright. Agents, please gather Agent Cortez and meet me downstairs."

"Sir?" Nicole asked as Pollock started to walk past them out of the office. He turned and looked at her.

"We're going to go the last place I know Rebeka was at."

* * *

Okay guys, it's officially my birthday today, so please be nice, and leave a review! 


	2. Parent's Worst Fear

A/N: So here we go, peoples. I forgot to say before, but just in case you haven't figured it out yet, Jess's visions will appear in italics.

The Warehouse Theater technically doesn't belong to me—it's based off of the Warehouse Theater in Greenville, SC.

Any scientific stuff is pure me—if it's not true then just blame me and my laziness to look things up.

I know this is short, but hold with me; the next chapter should (crosses fingers) be up soon.

Many thanks to my reviewers (all two of you) and to the people who have at least checked this story out. Reviews are great though, so please leave one on your way out.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. I only have claim to my OCs. So no suing, people, I've gotta buy my books for this semester and I'm broke.

On with the show!

Chapter 2: Parent's Worst Fear

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Warehouse Theater," Pollock announced as the agents exited their respective vehicles. Looking around, they could tell that the theater was aptly named; on the outside it appeared to be little more than a spruced up warehouse. Pollock glanced around the parking lot, his heart sinking as he pointed to a worn yellow Volkswagen beetle in the corner of the lot. "That's Beka's car. I'm going inside to speak with the director." With that, Antonio, Nicole, and Jess headed for the car, while Pollock went inside.

Inside, Pollock found several teenagers wandering around, while one very pissed off woman in her thirties stood in the front of the theater on her cell phone. Theater was really an overstatement; the performance area was on the floor in front of bleachers with chairs on them. Pollock approached the woman purposefully.

"Excuse me," he called to get her attention. She turned to face him, snapping her cell phone shut as she did.

"Yeah?" she asked. "What do you want?"

"I'm John Pollock; I'm looking for whoever's in charge here," he answered, flashing his badge for effect. The woman gave him a look that was a cross between stressed and intrigued.

"Well that would be me, God help us all," she answered with grim smile. She held out her hand. "Cassidy Sandburg. I'm the director." As they shook hands she gave him a quizzical look. "Pollock? You Beka's dad?"

"No," Pollock answered quickly, releasing Cassidy's hand. "I'm her uncle. Is Beka here?"

Cassidy let out a bitter laugh. "If she was, that would be at least one of my problems solved. She called about an hour ago, saying that she was running late cause of traffic and would be here in about ten minutes. She never showed, so now I'm short two cast members and a techie, not to mention all of the other crap that's going on right now."

"So you haven't seen her at all today?" Pollock asked. "Cause her car is parked out front."

Cassidy looked surprised at the news. "I wouldn't know anything about that. Practice was supposed to start at ten, and by the time Beka called me we were already getting started. All I know is, she never came inside."

* * *

"Nothing looks off," Jess commented as she peered into the passenger window. "Both of the doors are locked."

Nicole stood back from the car, arms crossed against her chest. "So what, Beka shows up at the theater, and…someone grabs her as she's going inside?" Jess shrugged as Pollock approached his team from across the parking lot.

"So apparently, Beka called and said that she was on her way to the theater, but never showed up, at least not inside."

"Well, that makes sense, assuming someone grabbed her in the parking lot," Nicole said, before turning to see Antonio crouched with his nose close to the driver's side door. "Antonio?"

"Do you smell that?" he asked. Nicole leaned over and Jess walked around the car to see what they were doing. After a moment Nicole straightened.

"Barely. What do you think it is?"

Antonio pressed one latex gloved finger against the car door before leaning in and sniffing it again. "Pepper spray. It's all over the driver's side window and the top part of the door. It's the strong stuff too; typical grade wouldn't have lasted this long in the open."

Antonio stayed crouched on the ground, looking left and right for something, before he finally ducked over to look under the car. When he straightened back up, he was holding a key chain with several keys on it, as well as a beaded decoration that spelled 'BEKA' and a can of pepper spray shaped like an ink pen.

Pollock felt his heart drop to his knees; if he'd had any doubt before, it was gone now. "I, uh…I got Beka that a few months ago. Wanted her to be safe when she went out alone." He let out a bitter laugh. The younger agents exchanged semi-nervous looks as Pollock cleared his throat.

"Alright, well, we obviously have a new case. Agent Scott, you will be in charge of the investigation, as I can't have an active part in it. Agent Cortez, if you would please stay here and learn whatever else you can; it would be much appreciated. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make a very…unwanted visit to my sister." The Assistant Director headed for his car, and Nicole and Jess exchanged an exasperated look as they started to follow him. This was not going to easy.

"Uh…sir?" Nicole asked as they approached the vehicles. Pollock turned to face them, an unidentifiable look on his face. "You know that we're gonna need to talk to Beka's parents. The sooner the better."

There was a brief moment of silence as Pollock seemed to absorb what Nicole had said and process it in his own mind. Jess couldn't help but feel sorry for the man; their normally unflappable boss was clearly in some shock from discovering that his niece was missing. "Right," Pollock said after a moment. "Well…come with me." He turned and began walking purposefully to one of the vehicles. Jess sighed as she and Nicole again exchanged a look of discomfort. This was not going to be a typical investigation.

* * *

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